Beaufort to Charleston: A Beloved Repeat

Beaufort feels like home to us, we have visited so many times and have good friends there as well. After our lack of sleep on the trip, we treated ourselves to the marina, enjoying the town, the restaurants, the laundry, showers, and our friends there. Beauforts Riverwalk was in full bloom , with its deeply shaded pathways and sunny lawns.


We invited Gail and Kia Malott to join us for dinner on the boat...discovering as we changed out our propane tank to the stove, that we now had a leaking pigtail line. Oh yes, and our shaft seal had begun to leak again. Let's see, no anchor windlass motor, energy management system on the fritz, leaking shaft seal, and no stove.

Revived after a few nights sleep, we motored, again, to Charleston, via a night anchored deep in the marsh at Steamboat Creek, vivid marsh grasses,distant tree lines, winding waters and spectacular sunsets.

We came to Charleston to have rub rails installed at St. Barts  Benetau dealership. They looked at our shaft too, and told us it was misaligned, apparently as a result of the repair to flex plate in Key West. They realigned the shaft, and told us  that the misalignment may have worn the seal badly enough that the boot would need replacing, but we should test it before replacing the boot, because it was probably fine. We celebrated a quiet 46th anniversary at Salty Mikes, at the marina, and had Charlie and Jennifer Black join us for cocktails on the boat before going out to another restaurant the following night.

Our last journey was a return to the Beaufort area, at Dawtaw Marina, on the Morgan River where we planned to haul out for the summer. The end of the cruising season was rather ignominious as Cookie ran the boat aground at low tide in the Stono River outside Charleston. With 8 feet of water on the starboard side, and 5' 10 inches under the rudder, it seemed like plenty of water, but then again, there was only 5 feet under the port side and 4 feet under the bow. The rising tide, reverse gear, and our bow thruster managed to get us off within a few minutes. We arrived at the marina after hours with no help around, 10 knots of wind,  and 2 knots of current in the Morgan River.While leaning down to lasso the cleat, Cookie's headphones, which we use to communicate while anchoring and docking, fell off into the water and floated away. We were able to get lines over on the bow and stern, but had to go ashore to pull the boat closer to the dock by hand.

After securing the boat, we took stock of this years cruising expenses: burned out windlass motor (ordered and received), leaking gas line (ordered and received), lost headphone, energy management system (partially functional), new rub rails, repaired shaft alignment, oh yes, and the leaking continued, so a new boot has been ordered. Looks like a lot of projects when we return in the fall. Not to mention that our air conditioner cooling water pump has difficulty maintaining the flow needed for the increased capacity of our new slightly larger air conditioner and would operate better with a new pump.

We spent the next several days preparing Wind Dancer for life on the hard during the summer, and the nights socializing with Gail and Kia and Jim and Pam Minton. So nice to have good friends who provided us with food, lodging, entertainment, and a ride to the airport.



Luke and Jan and Sand Castle live on Dawatw Island and will keep an eye on the boat for us. So we say farewell to our waterfront home, Wind Dancer, with its ever changing view and beautiful sunsets until October when we return to cruise again.